Framework for Monitoring the Spatiotemporal Distribution and Clustering of Drought Characteristics in Hunan Province
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The manuscript entitled: A framework to monitoring spatial-temporal distribution and clustering of drought characteristics in Hunan province constitute a framework aimed to explore the spatial-temporal distribution pattern of drought by using historical meteorological stations records is proposed in this study, which consists of two parts: drought characteristics extraction in temporal and drought spatial distribution patterns discovering by clustering method.
Remarks: Line 107-109: The m2 should be in the upper script in the sentence: According to historic statistics, its average drought area is about 701,000 hm2/year, of which the catastrophic drought area is about 324,000 hm2 [35]. Are there concrete steps that can be recommended and how generalizable are the findings? The region in which the inquiry was conducted, What's distinctive about it? Please indicate what new research brings.
The advantages and disadvantages of the proposed method should be indicated. Its limitations and generalized application should be presented.
Add references to all of the equations, in the case You are not the Author of the equations.
Add references to the definitions and parameters settings of drought characteristics in case you are not the author of it.
In conclusion, add some information about future work and perspectives.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
This manuscript presents a method to identify the temporal and spatial distribution of drought characteristics based on meteorological station records data in Hunan province, China. The manuscript is interesting for decision-makers. The structure of the paper is appropriate and the figures are well prepared and the result and discussion are based on the findings of the paper. The methodology is right and adequately described. Finally, the article needs English editing.
Author Response
Dear Editor and Reviewer,
We sincerely thank you and other reviewers for their critical comments and thoughtful suggestions on our manuscript, which helped us not only in improving the quality of the paper in English but also for research depth. Here, we submitted a new version of the manuscript with the title ‘A Framework to Monitoring Spatial-Temporal Distribution and Clustering of Drought Characteristics in Hunan Province’ (applsci-1406524). Based on these comments and suggestions, we have carefully revised the manuscript.
Sincerely yours,
Chunxiao Huang, Shunshi Hu, Muhammad Hasan Ali Baig and Ying Huang.
Point 1: This manuscript presents a method to identify the temporal and spatial distribution of drought characteristics based on meteorological station records data in Hunan province, China. The manuscript is interesting for decision-makers. The structure of the paper is appropriate and the figures are well prepared and the result and discussion are based on the findings of the paper. The methodology is right and adequately described. Finally, the article needs English editing.
Response 1: Thank you for your comments and suggestion concerning our manuscript. We have carefully checked the grammar of the full paper. And consulting with professionals to help us in proofreading of our full paper.
Reviewer 3 Report
Reviewer’s Report on the manuscript entitled:
A Framework to Monitoring Spatial-Temporal Distribution and Clustering of Drought Characteristics in Hunan Province
The authors proposed a model to study the spatial-temporal distribution pattern of drought in Hunan Province by using long historical meteorological stations records consisting of two parts: drought characteristics extraction in temporal, and drought spatial distribution patterns. Although the topic and results are interesting, the presentation of the manuscript needs significant improvement, particularly the grammar and style. Below please see my comments.
Title: Lines 13,14. The title is repeated here. Why? Please remove.
Abstract.
Line 20. It should be “the run-theory”
Line 21. Please remove the parentheses and instead say: “…, such as drought duration, drought severity, and drought intensity, and then…”
Please insert a comma after province in line 23, after drought in line 26, and after flexible in line 27. Please check similar issues throughout the entire manuscript.
Introduction.
It needs further improvement.
Lines 35 and 55. Please add the following article, describing the impact of climate change on streamflow in a high latitude region:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2021.100847
In Introduction, you need to also mention other robust methods for drought monitoring and the impact of climate change on water resources, such as
Cross-wavelet Analysis: The article above and the following article:
https://doi.org/10.3390/su13148072
Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model:
https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology8040157
And, combining meteorological and hydrological drought indices with the SWAT model to predict future dry years:
https://doi.org/10.3390/w12092333
Lines 108,109. Do you mean km2?
Line 114. Instead of “discusses” please say “demonstrates”
Lines 112-116. But your section 2 is Study area and data set! The way you described these do not match the way that you structured the manuscript. Please check and correct!
Figure 1. Panels (a) and (b). Please remove all the zeros for minutes and seconds for the coordinates because they are no necessary and take space.
The caption of Figure 2 should be re-written. Something like: The flowchart of the spatio-temporal method for detecting drought characteristics
Line 138. Do you mean Sections 3.1 and 3.2? Please note that the section numbers and their references should be checked and corrected.
Line 151. Which reference is this? Please ensure to use a consistent format when referring to articles. Here, remove 2010a and instead insert [23] or [37] whichever you meant.
Line 154. Equation (1) is in italic font, but in line 155, the parameters in Equation (1) are in a regular font that do not match. Please use a consistent format for them: make P and PET in italic front in line 155.
Line 158. When referring to equation always use the following format: “Equation (x)”
Equation (3). What do you mean by P=1-P ?
Line 164. Shouldn’t it be capital P not p?
Line 169. “into”
Line 175. “The run-theory” also remove parentheses and say “…, such as …”
Line 182. “the run-theory”. Wherever you say run-theory, it should be “the run-theory”. Check and correct everywhere.
Line 205. Instead of DDb,d,e, you should say DDb, DDd, DDe. Same for DSb,d,e.
Line 210. “for drought” not “to drought”.
Line 213. “chosen”
Line 221. Remove “the”
Line 246. Please rephrase. What is Vi?
Line 260. Remove “a”
Line 294. It should be the average drought duration (ADD)
Line 367. “we proposed”. Please note that generally all the verbs must be in the past form in Discussion and Conclusion., e.g., line 369. “showed”, etc.
The Discussion and Conclusion sections are very short and must be improved.
In the Discussion Section please add a paragraph describing the potential of other methods like cross-wavelet analysis and SWAT for drought monitoring in the light of references mentioned above.
In Conclusion, please mention the limitations of the study and future direction.
Please add an acronym table at the end of the manuscript listing all the abbreviations used.
Please carefully check the references to ensure they are correct and have a consistent format according to the MDPI guidelines.
Thank you for your contribution
Regards,
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
The manuscript can be published as a case report.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
I would like to thank the authors for addressing my comments. The manuscript is significantly improved in my view. Please carefully proofread the article before publication if accepted by the academic editor. Below, I have a few minor suggestions.
Line 63. The reference here for wavelet analysis is not [26]. It should be [8] and the following article https://doi.org/10.3390/su13148072
Line 64. Reference [27] that you wrote here does not talk about SWAT at all! As I mentioned in my previous comments, the references for SWAT should be:
https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology8040157Andhttps://doi.org/10.3390/w12092333
Line 74. It should be "least-squares" not "least squares"
Line 74. It should be "cross wavelet" not "crossing wavelet"
Line 135. Please replace "The structure of this paper is as follows. Section 1 introduces the research’s purpose and significance." with "The rest of the paper is organized as follows."
Please carefully check the references and make sure they are correctly referred to in the body of the manuscript.
Line 545. The first name of the author is missing.
Thank you for your contribution
Regards,
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
